Leaders of Men
by Sage1899
Summary: Set at the beginning of the battle for Serenity Valley. Mal realizes not all leaders deserve to be in charge. nospoilers really, preseries


_**Title: **Leaders of Men_

_**Author: **Sagey1899_

_**Characters: **Mal, Zoe and OC_

_**Rating: **T for language_

_**Warnings: **Never ride an elephant while sucking helium from balloons_

_**Spoilers: **Pre-series so not really spoilery at all_

_**Disclaimer: **They aren't mine They are Joss's...sniffle sob if they were certain things would be very different glares at Joss then hugs him I just like to play with them when I'm bored and when the voices in my head get to be a little too much. I have nothing so don't sue. The Lieutenant IS mine though._

_**Summary:** Set at the beginning of the battle for Serenity Valley. Mal realizes not all leaders deserve to be in charge._

* * *

Sergeant Malcom Reynolds had been in Serenity Valley less than two weeks and had already seen more bloodshed in this one battle than in all his many years of service in the Independent Army. He was a good fighter but knew when to pull back and regroup, and he inspired loyalty in his men -and women- they'd gladly follow him to Hell and back if that's what he asked of them. Mal got the distinct feeling that _that_ was exactly what he was asking them to do now. He finished reloading his rifle, fingered the silver cross that hung around his neck, kissed it and dropped it back down into the neck of his shirt and readied himself to poke his head back up out of the foxhole and start fighting again.

"He's at it again, Sir!" Corporal Zoe Alleyne's irritated voice cut through the mirage of gunfire. He looked at her and followed the direction of her nod.

Lieutenant Shane Masters, a young upstart (who didn't look old enough to drink let alone be an officer) that had been assigned to the 57th Over-landers straight from Officer Training School -and thought he knew everything about battle even though he'd not set foot near live ammunition until yesterday- had taken to ordering the men to charge the enemy without cover fire, and standing up on the edge of the foxhole "for a better vantage point." No matter that it put him in full -unobstructed view of the enemy and gave them bearings on where the rest of the Independents must be dug in.

"Ah, zhe zhen shi ge kuai le de jin zhan." Mal muttered, rolled his eyes and nodded that he'd take care of it.

Mal barreled his way through the foxhole, over the bodies of his comrades -both living and dead- till he reached the Lieutenant, grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him down into the soggy earth with a _splosh_. Masters grappled with his gun and pointed it at Mal. In one quick fluid motion Mal took the gun, disabled it, tossed it to the ground and had Masters flipped over on his belly eating muck. Mal knelt hard into the center of Masters' back pinning him to the ground.

"Ni zai zhuo shen me?" the Lieutenant spat through the muck.

"Ni xiang si shi bu shi!" Mal hissed loudly into the younger officer's ear.

Masters struggled and bucked to get the much larger man off his back. "Get off of me or I'll have you Court Marshaled!"

Mal sat back on his heels effectively letting the younger man up. "You're puttin' the men in danger.._.Sir_," He spat the title like it would make him sick else. "The Alliance send you to get all your men killed so they wouldn't have to do the job themselves? What gorram side are you on?"

"Sarge..." Zoe chimed in from behind Mal and when he turned his head to see what she wanted Masters sucker punched him right in his temple, whipping his head back and sending him sprawling on his ass, stunned.

"You qing wa cao de liu mang!" Mal rumbled through the pain in his head.

The Lieutenant stood up, flinging the mud and muck from his face and shirt with his hands. "I'm here 'cos the Purple Bellies murdered everyone in my town while I was away at school. Includin' my six year old sister." The words were tight and growled through clenched teeth. "Never question my loyalty again, Sergeant Reynolds. Dong ma?"

Mal shook his head and scrambled to his feet in a crouched position. "Son, all that hate is gonna burn you up inside."

"Keeps me warm." Masters sneered down at Mal the turned on his heel heading back to his perch. The very moment Masters' climbed back out of the foxhole a volley of gunfire riddled the man with holes and he fell back into the trench landing on his back at Mal's feet. The boy, for that was all he really was, stared up at Mal with dead eyes. Mal took a moment to brush his fingers over the dead boy's face, closing the unseeing eyes, said a quick prayer and went back to his place at Zoe's side.

* * *

Ah, zhe zhen shi ge kuai le de jin zhan. - Oh, this is a happy development.

Ni zai zhuo shen me? - What are you doing?

Ni xiang si shi bu shi! - Are you looking to die?

qing wa cao de liu mang - Frog-fucking son of a bitch


End file.
